This invention relates to a method and to a system for acquiring multi-parameter physiologic data from a patient. According to the invention, at least two categories of data, one of which is conventional ECG data, are collected contemporaneously from a common anatomy site. Collection, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention, is accomplished using a disposable/discardable unitary sensor component which is designed with appropriate transducers configured to accomplish such multi-parameter data collection. The discardable sensor specifically couples disconnectably to an adaptor which is also built in accordance with the invention, which adaptor makes direct communication connection with selected conductors at the distal ends of conventional ECG lead conductors.
The proposed sensor, in this preferred form, is patient specific, and as mentioned above, is discardable and appropriately organized internally with a chosen set of data-collection transducer structures so that it can be employed essentially at a single, localized anatomical site for accomplishing the desired multi-parameter data collection. According to the invention, one of the data parameters always collected includes ECG data. Other parameters, of which there may be more than one, might include, for example, sound/phono data, orientation/position (of subject in space) data, and other. In this setting, there are several kinds of situations now to be discussed generally below which lead to a desire to be able, for operational management purposes, to communicate either unidirectionally or bidirectionally between remote equipment and the sensor unit, or part, of the present invention. For example, such communication might take place between such a sensor and a remote unit which is charged with the activity of gathering ECG and other data for the purpose of interpreting aspects of a subject's heart behavior, and/or simply for gathering and presenting that data in visual or other reviewable form. Most especially, communication of the kinds just generally mentioned can be employed to tune and adjust appropriately provided tunable structure in a sensor so that performance is as precise and accurate and predictable as possible, and/or to inquire about operational capability and statuses of various components that may be present in a data-collection sensor.
Speaking a bit more specifically, it is often desirable to have the capability, at the time that a data-collection procedure is to be performed, to “tune” specific characteristics within the circuitry of one or both units proposed according to the present invention (adaptor and sensor) so as to prepare for optimal performance. Accordingly, in one embodiment of the present invention there is featured an organization which permits precisely this kind of a tuning operation. An implementation of the invention in this setting is described herein, for illustration purposes, in conjunction with tuning the operation of a filter/gain circuit that is employed with a sound/phono microphone transducer charged with the responsibility of gathering sound data from a subject. This illustration which is specifically chosen for discussion herein is but an indication of the capabilities of this feature of the present invention to allow for sophisticated pre-performance adjustments.
An interesting feature and offering with regard to this capability of the invention is a structural and operational organization according to the invention which allows for tuning control signaling to be accomplished through the transmission of control signals over existing, conventional ECG lead conductors which extend to the adaptor/sensor assembly of the invention. There is no requirement for the presence of any additional external wiring. Control signals, that is, for example, tuning-control signals, can be transmitted over the same line designed to carry data parameter signals in a manner which causes no cross-talk interference between these two categories of signals.
Considering the offerings and advantages presented by another embodiment of the invention, there may be circumstances and reasons in particular applications where it may be important to initiate a remote interrogation of certain operational parameters of circuitry within the adaptor/sensor of this invention. For example, it may be useful in certain situations to send an interrogation signal to a connected adaptor/sensor pair to determine that they are, in fact, compatibly coupled units. Certain doubts which might exist about whether, for example, an attached sensor or component within it is/are prepared to operate correctly, including correct operation of an installed battery power source, can be cleared through intelligent interrogation before data collection begins.
Just as was mentioned immediately above, in this embodiment also of the present invention, interrogation communication can take place within the practice of the present invention entirely over conventional ECG lead conductors, without the necessity for providing or installing additional signal wiring. One will note that, with respect to this modification which deals with interrogation, bidirectional communication is enabled whereby the request for information can be sent to the adaptor/sensor pair of this invention from a remote location, with one or more appropriate responses returned from the adaptor/sensor pair to that same or another remote location.
While the mentioned preferred form of the invention includes a disconnectable, and even patient-specific discardable, sensor, it is entirely possible to implement and practice the invention in a setting where disconnectability and discardability are not present, and where the structures of a sensor and an adaptor, as described and illustrated herein, are integrated into a single, nondiscardable unit. Such a modified form of the invention is mentioned more specifically below in conjunction with what is shown in FIG. 1. This unified structure is also referred to herein as an adaptor/sensor structure.
These and other features and advantages which are attained by the present invention will become more fully apparent as the description which now follows is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.